GAO denies protests of Next-Gen air tanker solicitation

The Government Accountability Office has denied two protests over the solicitation for “up to seven” Next-Generation air tankers published by the U.S. Forest Service. Erickson Aero Tanker and Coulson Aviation protested some of the terms of the solicitation process before any announcement was made about awarding contracts. The USFS had hoped to have the air tankers working by May 30, but the protests halted the contracting process. Coulson’s was denied on July 8 and Erickson’s on July 17.

The next step is for the USFS to decide what companies they want to issue contracts to, and then they have to abide by a strange law that requires they notify Congress of their intent, and then wait 30 days before actually awarding any contracts.

At that point, the process will again be vulnerable to an another round of protests over the awards themselves, each of which will take up to 100 days to be adjudicated by the GAO.

How sad this is for the public that the GAO hasn’t figured out that this happens every year -and has for the last 40 or so. Trying awarding contracts in January not during the middle of the fire session! What a simple concept.